The present invention relates to the field of polymer synthesis and screening. More specifically, in one embodiment the invention provides an improved method and system for synthesizing arrays of diverse polymer sequences. According to a specific aspect of the invention, a method of synthesizing diverse polymer sequences such as peptides or oligonucleotides is provided. The diverse polymer sequences may be used, for example, in screening studies for determination of binding affinity.
Methods of synthesizing desired polymer sequences such as peptide sequences are well known to those of skill in the art. Methods of synthesizing oligonucleotides are found in, for example, Oligonucleotide Synthesis: A Practical Approach, Gate, ed., IRL Press, Oxford (1984), incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. The so-called "Merrifield" solid phase peptide sysnthesis has been in common use for several years and is described in Merrifield, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1963) 85:2149-2154, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Solid-phase synthesis techniques have been provided for the synthesis of several peptide sequences on, for example, a number of "pins." See e.g., Geysen et al., J. Immun. Meth. (1987) 102:259-274, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Other solid-phase techniques involve, for example, synthesis of various peptide sequences on different cellulose disks supported in a column. See Frank and Doring, Tetrahedron (1988) 44:6031-6040, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Still other solid-phase techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,502 issued to Hamill and WO 90/00626 (Beattie, inventor).
Each of the above techniques produces only a relatively low density array of polymers. For example, the technique described in Geysen et al. is limited to producing 96 different polymers on pins spaced in the dimensions of a standard microtiter plate.
Improved methods of forming large arrays of peptides, oligonucleotides, and other polymer sequences in a short period of time have been devised. Of particular note, Pirrung et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,854 (see also PCT Application No. WO 90/15070) and Fodor et al., PCT Publication No. WO 92/10092, all incorporated herein by reference, disclose methods of forming vast arrays of peptides and other polymer sequences using, for example, light-directed synthesis techniques. See also, Fodor et al., Science (1991) 251:767-777, also incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
Some work has been done to automate synthesis of polymer arrays. For example, Southern, PCT Application No. WO 89/10977 describes the use of a conventional pen plotter to deposit three different monomers at twelve distinct locations on a substrate. These monomers were subsequently reacted to form three different polymers, each twelve monomers in length. The Southern Application also mentions the possibility of using an ink-jet printer to deposit monomers on a substrate. Further, in the above-referenced Fodor et al., PCT application, an elegant method is described for using a computer-controlled system to direct a VLSIPS.TM. procedure. Using this approach, one heterogenous array of polymers is converted, through simultaneous coupling at a number of reaction sites, into a different heterogenous array. This approach is referred to generally as a "combinatorial" synthesis.
The VLSIPS.TM. techniques have met with substantial success. However, in some cases it is desirable to have alternate/additional methods of forming polymer sequences which would not utilize, for example, light as an activator, or which would not utilize light exclusively.